Three Boggarts
by Grasspaw
Summary: Remus Lupin has met many boggarts in his lifetime, but three will always stand out in his memory. They were the first ones he ever saw, and they were special.


**Well, just some random one-shots that popped into my head about boggarts and Remus and werewolves... So, yeah. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

The first time Remus Lupin saw a boggart was when he was three. His seventeen year old cousin Nell was visiting them for a week, and she was right in the middle of a scary story about werewolves. Of course, he was not supposed to have listened, but he sneaked out of bed anyways. When she got to the part where the werewolf broke into somebody's house and attacked them, feasting on their flesh, he began to cry. Nell leaped up. "Oh, I'm sorry, Remus, sweetie. I didn't mean to scare you." She cuddled and comforted him, and he soon fell asleep.

Nell carrid him to his room and and gently laid him down in bed. He opened his eyes. "G'night, Nell," he said in his sweet, babyish voice. She smiled slightly and began to walk out of the room when she heard a small noise. It was a faint rattling, coming from the direction of Remus's toy trunk. It was currently being cleaned out, so there were only a few toys left in side. She pulled her wand out of her pocket (she was always on the cautious side) and advanced slowly forward.

She reached it, and the rattling grew louder. The chest was visibly shaking now. Remus was staring at it too, his eyes wide. Nell slowly reachd down, opened the chest, and jumped back.

A werewolf jumped out.

Remus screamed, terriefied. Nell, too stunned for a moment to realize what had happened, was merely shocked. She backed away, but the creature was advancing towards the terrified little boy who was trying to bury himself under the pillows. Its jaw dripping blood, it stalked towards the bed, it claws make clicking noises on the wooden floor. It growled deep in his throat.

Nell glanced towards the windows, and realized with a jolt that the moon was only half full. It must be...

She jumped in front of the wolf. With a crack, it was replaced by a corpse. Slowly, the corpse lifted itself off the floor and began its way towards her. She pointed her wand at the boggart and said clearly, "Riddikilus." The thing disappeared.

Nell immediately rushed over to Remus's bed. She tried to comfort him, but the child was too terrified to notice her. She made him hot chocolate and told him happy stories, about mischivious fairies and kind old centaurs who helped people. Eventually he went back to sleep, but he was plagued with nightmares for several weeks afterwards, until they were replaced byu the dreams of himself actually getting bitten.

And so Remus met with his first boggart.

* * *

The second time Remus saw a boggart was when he was thirteen. He was standing in a classroom full of other students, and the DADA teacher announced that they were studying the creatures that day. Then, the professor did something totally unexpected. He reached below his desk and brought out a suitcase. The suitcase was rattling and shaking, as though there were something trapped inside. A few students looked uneasy or backed away, but Remus stared at it, feeling... well, he didn't know what he was feeling. He was nervous, definitely. What if it turned into a werewolf again? He could still remember that day. He didn't know then that he would be bitten within two months of that incident.

The teacher shot a glance at him and raised an eyebrow, and Remus nodded firmly. He would do it, whatever the consequences. James, Sirius and Peter looked at him, obviously wondering what would happen when the boggart was in front of him, but they didn't say anything. They already knew his secret and had been sworn to secrecy.

the teacher explained what to do. Think of something funny that you could make your worst fear into. Say "Riddikilus." Laugh. Destroy boggart. Live happily ever after. Okay, he didn't say that, but it was sort of understood. The professor looked around the room. "Potter. You first."

James stepped forward, looking cocky and confident. The professor opened the suitcase, and a Dementor suddenly stood in the room. It cast a dark chill over the entire room, and everyone felt the happiness being sucked away from them. Even James seemed to deflate a bit. But then he pointed his wand and said firmly, "Riddikilus!" There was a crack, and suddenly the dementor's hood was hot pink. The entire room burst into laughter, and a few people clapped. The professor raised a hand. "Everybody in a line!"

Everyone followed his instructions, forming a questionable line. Remus got into the very back, feeling slightly queasy. He wished now that he had come up with some excuse for not doing it, but it was too late. He just hoped it would not be a werewolf, especially one with a shockingly familiar look about it... One that looked like him.

They saw banshees, mummys, vampires, giant snakes. All melted or broke into song, causing much laughter. Finally, it was Remus's turn. He knew, he just knew, that they would see him turning into a werewolf, or a werewolf biting him, or maybe even his transformation back from wolf to human. But it was too late to back out now. Everyone was watching him, waiting to see what form his boggart would take.

It had most recently been a giant cobra, and the thing slithered over to him. and then, with a crack, it changed shape. But... it was not a wolf, or anything like that. It was small silver orb. A full moon.

Immediately, he began to panic. All he could see was the moon. Why were other people in the room? He was dangerous, he was going to transform... But then he realized that nothing was happening. It was not the real moon. It was just a boggart.

Such a huge wave of relief, warm, glorious relief, swept through him that he laughed out loud. And kept laughing. The other students were looking at him in confusion, or even disturbance, and some merely looked startled. Remus never laughed as he was now. He was bent over double, laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face. Of course a few tears were not from the laughter, but from sadness. This was the only way he would ever be able to see the full moon, for he could not remember seeing it in his wolf form.

Remus couldn't stop laughing. The boggart had disappeared with a crack, apparently finished off, but still he kept on. He did not even remember now why he was laughing. Most students were looking concerned now, especially the other Marauders. They stepped forward to help him stand up straight, for he was clutching at his stomach and gasping for air. His sides ached, but still he could not stop.

The professor moved forward. He called, "Class dismissed!" All the students, except for the Marauders, left, and theyll gave Remus a wide berth. Before long, the story of Remus Lupin's crazy laughing fit would be heard all over the school.

When Remus finally calmed down, he wore a huge grin on his face for the rest of the day.

And so he met with his second boggart.

* * *

The third time Remus saw a boggart was when he was sixteen. It was about two weeks after the prank, and Remus still had not forgiven Sirius. He was hurt and angry, and afraid. What if something like that happened again? He could not be sure. He never wanted anything like that to happen again, it was so terrible.

He walked slowly up the stairs to the sixth year boy's dormitory. His head was hurting, and he felt like lying down for a bit. He got on his bed but sleep would not come. He wondered why. He used all of his senses. Was there some disgusting stench keeping him awake? Was the light shining directly in his eyes?

But no, it was the fact that he could hear a loud rattling coming from underneath his bed. Groaning, he climbed out of bed and reached underneath. It was a long, rectangular box. He recognized it. It was the box that James' new broom had come in. Now it was shaking. Not thinking, he grabbed his wand off the bedside table and opened it.

The thing that came out was awful.

It was James, bleeding profusely. His limbs were mangled and coated in blood, and there were deep claw marks over his entire body. And there, right on his shoulder, were teeth marks. But not human teeth. No, these looked like... Canine. A wolf, to be exact.

James was muttering something. Remus stepped closer, horrified. James slowly opened one eye, saw Remus, and flinched, though it seemed to cause him pain. "Why, Remus?" he mutter faintly. "Why did you... bite... me...?"

Remus just stared at him. He backed away, horrified. The tiny, logical voice in the back of his head told him that that could not be James, James was out on the Quidditch pitch with Sirius and Petter was watching them, but he did not listen. He could only feel fear. He had bitten James... He had bitten James... He had bitten James...

He sunk down into a sitting position, his knees hugged tightly to his chest. He tried to look away, but he could not. And then, with a crack, it was no longer James. Peter lay on the floor, in much the same position. Bloody and mangled, with the bite marks and claw marks all over his body.

Remus began trembling. All color drained from his face. Every so often, the body would change. It would be his mother or his father, his cousin Nell, who had always been his favorite despite the fourteen year difference between them, and then it would be Dumbledore or another teacher, and once he saw Lily, followed by Snape...

And then there was Sirius.

Sirius looked worse than all of them put together. There were no words to explain it. Remus was filled with horror. He had done that, he was sure. This time, he made himself look away. He laid his head on his knees, staring at the floor, though his eyes were unfocused. The images of his friends and family, bloody and dead, rose again before his eyes, and he began shaking harder. He did not cry, he could not make himself. Instead, his body was wracked with dry, gasping sobs. This was unendurable agony. Why had he hurt these people that meant so much to him?

He did not know how long he stayed like that, frozen. But finally, James came in. Seeing Sirius lying there on the ground, apparently dead, he froze. Then he noticed Remus, sitting there sobbing and shaking. What had happened?

It was then that he saw the bite marks. Immediately he understood. He jumped in front of it. It stood, becoming the Dementor again. He muttered Ridikilus and it disappeared. He sat down next to Remus and began gently rubbing his back. He simply rubbed, not hard, but just to let his friend know that he was there.

But Remus did not seem to know that he was there. He seemed beyond hearing or touch. He was still shocked, and filled with a combination of fear and self-loathing. After a while, he looked up and saw James. His eyes seemed to take a moment to focus, but when he noticed the black-haired Seeker, he leaped back. "James," he whispered. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I didn't do it on purpose... I didn't know I was doing it... B-but then I saw... And..."

James made a low, comforting sound. "It's okay. It was just a boggart. I'm okay, see? And Sirius is fine, and whoever else you saw is fine."

"B-but I b-bit you... I b-bit all of you." Remus was staring at him, apparently not comprehending.

"Look, let's just get you to the Hospital Wing, okay? Madam Pomfrey will give you something to calm you down, and you'll be alright. It was just a boggart. We're all fine. Let's just go to the Hospital Wing."

Remus nodded and stood up, though James was not sure if he really understood. He led the still shaking boy through the halls of the castle, deliberately picking ones with few people in them, because he did not think it was a good idea to have Remus be around people.

Finally, they reached the stairs and climbed up them. When they were in the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey bustled over. Remus was leaning heavily against a wall and moaning slightly, his face in his hands. James explained quietly what had happened, and the mediwitch immediately led the werewolf over to a bed and made him drink some dreamless sleep potion.

When he awoke, he realized that the fear was mainly there because of Sirius. He had been holding a grudge, and it had taken over his mind almost. He accepted his friend's apology, and they set to work on mending their friendship. It was hard work, but soon they had it entirely healed, except that the scar would always remain, though it faded more and more in time.

And so Remus met his third boggart.

* * *

Remus would meet many more boggarts in his lifetime, but those three alway stuck out in his memory. Each one was a first of some kind, a stepping stone, and though it had been hard at times, he would always treasure those three momories.


End file.
